It was cold and rainy, which made it a great day for the museums.

February 5, 2012 – Sunday morning we went back to the Art Museum.  We checked out the modern art building, which also had a few of Audobon’s life-size drawings of birds.  Tony really enjoyed the art, but Louisa found most of it clinical and verging on nihilistic.  We also went back to the main (new) building, which was constructed to bring in maximum outside light to illuminate the art.  This time we saw the older pieces, including Egyptian work.  Some of these dated to 6000-4500 B.C. (well, labelled B.C.E. for political correctness; but it’s still using the same point in time as the demarcation.  This is why I don’t do political correctness, it doesn’t *change* anything.)  The museum also has an outdoor sculpture garden, which we quickly walked through since it was cold and windy.

We liked it a latte.

After finishing the Art Museum it was time to head downtown.  The parking is free on Sunday, so we got a spot in the lot by the State Capitol. After walking through the grounds we found an (open) coffee shop downtown, The Morning Times.  We got a chai and a latte, and found one of the last open tables upstairs.  The coffees were excellent, though the crowded nature of the place made it less-than-ideal for long term hanging out.

The Acrocanthosaurus exhibit is a main attraction at the science museum.

After enjoying our drinks and vacating the table we went back towards the History and Science museums.  Up first was a quick walk through the History museum, where we saw exhibits about colonial times, the Revolutionary War, slavery, and the Civil War.  They also had a few race cars as a special exhibit.

Downtown Raleigh is a great spot for museums.

The next stop was the Science museum.  We enjoyed the natural wildlife exhibits, complete with trees, flowers, birds and mammals.  Our other favorite exhibit was the large Acrocanthosaurus dinosaur skeleton.  The museum cafe also makes good paninis (cheese and apple) and French onion soup.  After browsing the museums we went back to the Village Draft House to relax for a bit before heading to Jasmin for dinner and getting on the road.